[media-credit name=’AJ Maclean’ align=’alignnone’ width=’648′][/media-credit]Construction throughout the city of Madison is evident around the campus and downtown area. No end is in sight of the current renovations, and benefits of new and updated facilities are continuing to be discussed.

The University of Wisconsin’s Facilities and Planning Management group, with the help of Alan Fish, associate vice chancellor of FPM, presented a future plan for further UW expansion Thursday night.

Fish and UW have a multitude of projects in the works for the next decade and beyond. The group hopes to make better use of the 900-plus acres of campus property, of which only one-third is currently developed, including 98 acres of parking lots, according to Fish.

“If we converted [the 98 acres] to three-story decks, it would save 65 acres of land,” Fish said.

He also noted that although the short-term cost of building parking ramps may be considered high, the value of the land saved would be in the millions.

“Most places [on campus] feel like a tremendous urban area,” Fish said, adding undeveloped plots are just as important. “There are many areas of campus such as Muir Woods and Picnic Point which are a big part of the campus community.”

According to Ledell Zellers, vice president of the Capitol Neighbors Program Committee, the downtown area is one of the greatest community concerns. Buildings downtown are deteriorating, including the campus area — and these are the areas imperative to the health of the city.

“Most people live downtown because of the vitality,” Zellers said.

The replacement of Ogg Hall with two new six-story residence halls is among some of the upcoming changes for students.

“I think it makes a lot of sense to have highly concentrated housing closer to campus,” Zellers said. “Concentrate [housing] in areas where students and faculty need to go.”

Another change near the southeast dorms will be the reconstruction of the University Square development. The twelve-story project is on course, which will tear down the mall now resting on the plot, to be completed by 2009, and is set to become the new home of University Health Services, the Bursar’s Office and other student services. The new University Square plans also call for shopping and dining options.

According to Fish, other facilities across campus will undergo change as well. A recent private gift of $31 million has been dedicated to the restoration of Education Hall on Bascom Hill.

Grainger Hall will also expand with a five-story addition set to become the Graduate School of Business. Seventy-five percent of the funding for this project, which is scheduled to begin next summer, was received as a private gift, Fish added.

The growing trend of new building developments and restorations can be attributed to the increasing amount of federal grant money and private donations received at UW.

“[Federal] research grants and private donations allow the state to pay less than 25 percent [of construction costs], whereas 15 years ago, state funding was 100 percent,” Fish said.

A recent example of this is Rennebohm Hall, the new home of UW’s School of Pharmacy.